Winter flexed its muscle last night but today held early signs that winter is losing its grip. After a fast-moving overnight storm and a snowy start, by 9:30 it was low 40's. By noon the sun's warmth had melted the snow from the barn roof  and the traces of last night's storm from memory.  Any seasonal shift infuses the barn with restless anticipation. Lots of jumping, jostling sheep as I doled our this morning's hay. Amy appreciated a quiet moment and a private helping of hay away from the frenetic energy in the barn. The newly shorn yearlings, who look
Read More

It feels really good to have shearing round one behind us. Thursday was long day, but the yearlings were surprisingly mellow and the day was mild.  Here are a couple of cameo "before" shots: Issey, looking rather sober,  was first up. His fleece was a snowy white, soft, billowy cloud. You can see the line  at the neck where the jacket protected the wool and also how the coat slightly compressed the fleece. The wool expands like a marshmallow when released. And here's Pucci, looking more ready for a nap than his first hair cut. The "after" shot: a group
Read More

Preparing for our first round of shearing involved a goat transfer. Holly escorted Butch and Gypsy to the Commons on the west side of Reynolds Road, which was looking pretty empty without the yearlings. There's nothing like a pair of goats to liven up a party. After weeks of segregation, Butch and Gypsy  are just plain thrilled to have some sheep to push around. With a glint in their eyes, they were quick to show the Border Leicesters who's in charge. I'm beginning to wonder if tomorrow's shearing day will be an endurance test of sorts. Mike's got two cracked
Read More

First of all, I am overwhelmed by the number of fantastic suggestions for naming this year's soon-to-be-here lambs. Thank you to everyone who has written a blog comment or sent an idea via email. Some of you are thinking way outside the box. There are serious themes, cute themes, arty themes, nature themes, geographical themes, political themes, religious themes and literary themes. Clearly, we're going to have some fun with names this spring. I'm holding off on deciding for a few more weeks. Stay tuned here to discover this year's name theme – and the lucky winner of our contest.
Read More

A story in yesterday's USA today states that a study conducted at Newcastle University in Newcastle upon Tyne shows that the more affectionate treatment of cows – including giving cows names – encourages them to produce more milk. It goes on to say this doesn't come as a surprise to dairy farmers throughout the U.S. who often name their members of their herd and call them by name. Jon Bransen of Double J Jerseys in Portland Oregon claims, "A cow that is happy and calm is going to produce more milk". This got me thinking about our practice of naming
Read More

This week Holly took the reigns at the farm so Mike and I could escape to Orlando, Florida to celebrate our son's birthday. We left Monday and arrived just in time to experience a week of record low temperatures for this time of year. Lovely. Sunshine, green grass. palm trees and flowers made up for the lack of actual warmth. And it's always great to visit our son, Caleb, who works at Disney's Animal Kingdom. We often remind him that  we have our own little animal kingdom right at home, and he's welcome to work here anytime he wants.  Holly
Read More

Temperatures rose above freezing for the first time in weeks as we turned the calendar page on Sunday. It felt like tee shirt weather. The sheep  who have been suffering from cabin (barn?) fever along with the rest of us were absolutely giddy. Lots of silly head butting for no reason and crazy side-ways leaps on the way to breakfast. They are still tentative about walking on the brittle snow crust, so I broke some fresh trails and told them to go play outside. Who needs a Thigh Master when you have a pair of snowshoes and a foot of
Read More

Some sheep are in dire need of winter haircuts. The wooly top-knot that covers the head like an afro is 4 inches thick, nearly covering his ears and eyes. When it begins to cascade downward toward the nose and over the face, it acts like a visor making it awfully difficult to see what's happening in the world. This condition is called "wool blind" and is easily remedied. When we noticed Cody stumbling around the barn like Mr. MaGoo we knew it was time to take out the scissors and get to work.  Check out his salon makeover before &
Read More

Yesterday we ushered the lambs into the barn for a winter wardrobe makover. While they are closer to being yearlings at this point, we still think of them as our  "designer lambs", since all were named for fashion industry icons. Although it's barely been eight weeks since the last coat check round up, some of them were beginning to look like stuffed sausages. While most of the adults are simply piling on the fleece in this season, the lambs are still growing in all directions which means a closer eye on the trim of their little jackets as they get
Read More

This season's pattern of snowy, cold, snowy, cold, snowy, followed by yet more cold has become tedious. While we've been without "snowy" since Sunday, things tonight once again take a turn toward "cold". A few consecutive days of temps in the mid twenties has felt like a break. Cocoa and Charlotte have been enjoying mornings in the sun on the south side of the barn, while the youngsters have ventured to the stone wall at the pasture's edge for the first time in weeks. The sheep aren't the only ones out for a look around this week. The deer have
Read More